Foster criticises government meddling in CPA results

13 Feb 03
The controller of the Audit Commission has hit out at the government for pressurising the watchdog to penalise certain councils in the Comprehensive Performance Assessments published last December. Sir Andrew Foster, in a valedictory interview with <.

14 February 2003

The controller of the Audit Commission has hit out at the government for pressurising the watchdog to penalise certain councils in the Comprehensive Performance Assessments published last December.

Sir Andrew Foster, in a valedictory interview with Public Finance, said that 'at the last minute' the government had wanted to downgrade councils with failing schools. The commission had stood its ground and refused to amend the results.

Foster said he told the government it had overstepped the mark. 'I did say: "Well, I am not sure that we can go ahead like this, and I am prepared to go public". And the truth is that the government backed down,' he said.

The CPA results were published without interference and painted a picture of generally good performance in local government. There were still some complaints and two councils – Ealing and Torbay - are thought to be seeking a judicial review of their results.

But Foster, who is to leave after ten years in post, said the commission had run both an internal and an external quality control and had ensured that lawyers checked the audit trail.

'How would the 20 top-performing authorities feel if they were to lose all of their freedoms and flexibilities based on a challenge that Torbay and Ealing were mounting? I would think that local government wouldn't like that,' he added.

Advertisements published this week reveal that Foster's replacement will earn £200,000 a year - £50,000 more than the new head of the Commission for Healthcare Audit and Inspection and £60,000 above the salary of auditor general Sir John Bourn.

John Edmonds, general secretary of the GMB union, criticised the offer as a 'fat cat salary for the head of an organisation supposed to advocate economy'.

PFfeb2003

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